Officials dismayed by ticket fiasco

27 July 2012 12:17

A senior London 2012 figure has admitted that serious problems in the distribution of tickets ahead of the football matches at Newcastle's St James' Park were "appalling" and "unacceptable".

Hundreds of people were forced to queue for several hours before the Mexico v South Korea game, both to collect pre-paid tickets and buy tickets, and some missed part or all of the game.

Geoff Hodgson, a board member for London 2012 nations and regions, told BBC Radio Newcastle: "I can only apologise. It is indefensible. What we are trying to sort out now is it doesn't happen again."

"Last night was totally and completely 100% unacceptable. It was absolutely appalling.

"It had all the potential to be an outstanding night and for many people, it was, but for those outside queuing, it was totally unacceptable.

"We cannot allow this to happen again. There are no excuses for this.

"A system for ticketing was set up for global ticketing to handle every ticket for the Olympics by one party, and the procedures that they have appear to be 'one size fits all'.

"To be blunt, unlike every other sport, there was not a test event for football at a football ground that is being used. The test event, effectively, was the Riverside at Middlesbrough, and that's a venue that's not being used and the tickets were dealt with in a different way.